A Nigerian has bared his mind on what he thinks is frustrating foreign investment in the country as Nigeria battles recession.
When News Breaks Out, We Break In. (The 2014 Bloggies Finalist)
President Muhamamdu Buhari
Your Excellency
I listened to your speech on NTA news and followed newspaper
reports of it, and noted with interest your directive to the
Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission, ICRC, and other
relevant agencies to cut down bureaucratic bottlenecks on new
investments in order to get the economy out of recession.
You are right Mr. President that the economy needs to attract local
and foreign investments to create jobs and improve opportunities for
all. But how can this be Mr. President, when an appointed officer in
your government can keep a project worth N68 billion cash investment and
over N110 billion total annual concession fees, during the life of the
project, on his desk for more than six months with no consequence? What
does such a situation say to the investors we are trying to attract?
The concession of the National Theatre fallow land for purposes of
fully implementing the over 40-year-old National Theatre master plan by
re-development of the areas around the National Theatre into an
entertainment city, is the project. It will include a five-star hotel,
water park, shopping complex, cultural arcade, office blocks, power
plant, waste disposal facility and rehabilitation of the main bowl of
the National Theatre which will remain under management of the Federal
Government.
The following events illustrate the recent journey of the project:
May 25, 2015
Letter of notification issued to the preferred bidder, and the reserved bidder as directed by ICRC.
November 2015
PPP agreements fully negotiated by a joint negotiating team
including National Theatre, Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Justice,
Ministry of Finance, under the oversight of the ICRC, submitted to
Honourable Minister of Information and Culture, Ministry of Finance,
Ministry of Justice. The Ministry of Justice approved the draft
agreement subject to revisions, which were fully reflected. At the same
time, Final Business Case with draft agreements were submitted to ICRC
for compliance review.
March 11, 2016
ICRC issued Final Certificate of Compliance based on Final Business
Case, indicating that the project had complied with ICRC Act and the
National Policy on PPP and requesting the Honorable Minister of
Information and Culture to present the project to FEC.
The project has remained with the Minister and has not been
presented to FEC by the Supervising Minister; rather the Minister is by
all means maneuvering to bring his preferred company into the project.
Is this the change the nation voted for?
Mr. President, how do we attract investments with this kind of deliberate frustration of current investors in a concluded bid?
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Written by Tijani Abdusalam-Ogueyi
When News Breaks Out, We Break In. (The 2014 Bloggies Finalist)
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